The family of murdered Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu has applied for leave to commence judicial review proceedings to compel the authorities to investigate the contents of an affidavit submitted by Azilah Hadri.
Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo said Altantuya’s father, Shaariibuu Setev, was seeking several orders in relation to the affidavit affirmed by Azilah on Sept 23, 2024, which included a statutory declaration dated Oct 17, 2019.
“The application for leave was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Tuesday,” she said in a statement.
In January, it was reported that Altantuya’s family had called on the government to launch an inquiry into various allegations made by Azilah in the affidavit.
They alleged that the Attorney-General’s Chambers, representing the government, had not contested Azilah’s claim in the affidavit that he received orders from “high-ranking government officials” to “eliminate and dispose of” Altantuya.
In October, the Federal Court allowed an application by Azilah, one of two former Special Action Unit officers convicted of Altantuya’s murder 18 years ago, and commuted the death sentence previously imposed on him to 40 years’ imprisonment.
Azilah, 48, was also ordered to receive the mandatory minimum 12 strokes of the rotan.
Shaariibuu had written a letter to the court in support of Azilah’s application.
Sangeet today said that Azilah had relied on the subject affidavit to support his appeal against his death penalty.
Then chief justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who chaired the bench, said the apex court had relied on the contents of the additional affidavit and the statutory declaration when applying the proportionality principle to reduce Azilah’s sentence.
Sangeet also said that the two documents were undisputed and unrebutted by the prosecution when Azilah’s application for a commutation of his sentence was heard before the Federal Court.
In 2009, the Shah Alam High Court convicted Azilah and his colleague Sirul Azhar Umar of Altantuya’s murder.
The convictions were overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2013 but restored by the Federal Court two years later, with both accused sentenced to death. Sirul fled to Australia before the final verdict was announced, and remains there today.
